Mark 8:38

ὃς γάρ. This fourth and last step in the reasoning looks back to the start in Mark 8:34, and it takes us beyond the experiences of this life to the final Judgment. Christ is revealing more and more of the mysteries of the Kingdom. “The possibilities of irreparable loss are manifold, for whoever is guilty of moral cowardice in reference to Christ’s requirements will have to suffer this loss.” Ce verset est comme le fond du tableau qui fixe les perspectives (Lagrange). The compound ἐπαισχύνομαι is freq. in Paul.

μοιχαλίδι. “Apostate”; the ref. is to spiritual adultery, the worship of Mammon (James 4:4). The man who dares not make a stand against this disowning of Christ must be prepared to be disowned at the Judgment. The picture of the Judgment is in accordance with Jewish ideas, and we cannot safely draw inferences from the details. These verses show—and Mark 8:35 is accepted even by Loisy as authentic—that Christ takes into most solicitous consideration the future condition of each individual soul.

ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ�. See on Mark 2:10. The contrast with Mark 8:31 is great. There it is the suffering, here it is the glorified Messiah that is contemplated. Cf. Luke 12:8.

τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ. Only here and Mark 14:36 in Mk does Jesus speak of God as His Father; cf. Mark 13:32. God is the Father of the Son of Man, and the Son of Man is the Son of God.

μετὰ τῶν�. Here, as in Mark 12:25, all three record that our Lord spoke of Angels as beings that really exist. It is not credible that all the passages in which His teaching on this subject is recorded have been corrupted by the introduction of the Evangelists’ own beliefs.